Bihus.Info journalists have been under surveillance in recent days. We noticed spies under office - project editor Yurchenko
While preparing a story about the wiretapping of the Bihus.Info team by SSU officers, the journalists of the publication continued to record unknown persons who continued to monitor them.
According to Censor.NET, Alisa Yurchenko, editor and journalist of the Bihus.Info project, said this on Radio Liberty.
"We kept noticing spies under the office. That is, the typical stompers who walked around the office building. When we asked them what they were doing there, they couldn't clearly answer the question of why they were lost and just wound up running circles around the office. Again, cars with fake license plates, all of this continued. Perhaps the previous couple of days were less active, but until it was clear that we were definitely coming out with this material, it was active, yes," Yurchenko said.
Commenting on the facts of surveillance of the editorial office established during the investigation, she said that this is a huge violation of human rights and interference with privacy and pressure on the editorial office. However, the team cannot say who exactly is the customer of this case.
Surveillance of Bihus.Info
As a reminder, on January 16, a video was posted online showing Bihus.Info employees allegedly using drugs at a New Year's corporate party. The founder of the project, Denys Bihus, noted that the video showed part of the team, namely the cameramen. According to him, the journalists did not use drugs.
"The team realizes the gravity of the situation. Of course, the wiretapping and surveillance were illegal, and the goals of those who recorded are clear. However, this is no excuse for what we saw on the video - namely, the use of illegal substances by several of our colleagues," the team said.
Later, Bihus said that Bihus.Info team members had been under surveillance for about a year. And the New Year's corporate party was part of a security operation.
The SSU opened proceedings on the fact of illegal wiretapping and video recording. It also seized disks with camera recordings.
Recently, Bihus.Info journalists asked for help in identifying the persons allegedly involved in the surveillance of the investigative team. It was also reported that Bihus.Info identified the SSU officers who were illegally spying on the journalists: they were from the Department for the Protection of National Statehood.
